Introduction

The "gap" model accepts the ancient age
of the universe, but states that the earth was remade following corruption by
Satan and his angels. The "standard" gap model states that God created
the earth and populated it with angels, the chief of whom was the angel Satan.
However, Satan rebelled and convinced one third of the angels to follow him in
rebellion. Through this age of rebellion and sin, the earth became corrupted so
much that God had to judge the world through a pre-adamic flood so that it
"had become" formless and void. The usual translation of Genesis 1:2
has been changed as shown below:

And the earth was formless
and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of
God was moving over the surface of the waters. (Genesis 1:2, NASB)

And the earth had become
formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the
Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. (Genesis 1:2,
gap theory)

The impetus for this translation comes from a single verse in
the book of Isaiah:

For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the
God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it
a waste place, But formed it to be inhabited), "I am the LORD, and there
is none else. (Isaiah 45:18)

Proponents of the gap theory say that the Lord did not create
the earth as a waste place (Hebrew word is tohu, Strong's number H8414),
but as a world to be inhabited. However, Genesis 1:2 says that the earth was
formless (Hebrew word is tohu). Obviously, if the earth was not created
as tohu, it must have become tohu at some point after it was
created.

Pre-Adamic flood

The idea of a Pre-Adamic flood has been around for some time,
although it is difficult to support either biblically or scientifically. The
gap theory states that there was a large gap of time between Genesis 1:1 (the
creation of the universe 14 billion years ago) and Genesis 1:2 (the remaking
of the earth). Both the day-age and gap theories would accept that there is a
gap of 10-12 billion years between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. However, the gap
theory states that the days of Genesis (described after Genesis 1:2) were 24
hours days, making all the extant creatures of the earth less than 10,000 years
old. The model accepts the ancient fossil record as the evidence of the
creatures that inhabited the earth before it was corrupted by Satan and his
demons. However, the model would predict that we would find evidence of a global
flood 6,000-10,000 years ago, along with a break in the fossil record and the
introduction of the entire array of extant species at the time.

Biblical problems with the gap theory

Proponents of the gap theory translate Genesis 1:2 as,
"And the earth had become formless and void." It is true, the
Hebrew word used in Genesis 1:2, hayah, usually translated
"was," is also translated elsewhere as "became" or "had
become." However, this word is extremely common, occurring over 1,000 times
in the book of Genesis alone, where it is given over 100 different translations
in the NASB version. Since biblical Hebrew is a very small language (containing
less than 9,000 words), many Hebrew words have multiple meanings. Therefore, the
proper translation must be determined from the context in which the word is
found. I have listed some of the more common translations of hayah from
the book of Genesis:

Translations of Hayah

Translation

Number of Times

Became

85

Become

230

Been

98

Came

526

Come

141

Happen

13

Happened

59

Has

19

Have

97

Remain

9

Remained

6

As you can see, Genesis 1:2 could be translated "And the
earth remained formless and void..." This would make sense, since the
context indicates that God had just begun moving above the waters of the earth
to change it for habitation. The word hayah is used 18 times in the first
20 verses of Genesis 1 and it would not make sense to translate it "had
become" in any of the other 17 verses. Therefore, I see no reason from the
context of Genesis 1:1 or 1:2 to translate hayah in Genesis 1:2 as
"had become."

Theologically, I find it difficult to support the concept
that Satan has the power to destroy and corrupt all of Godís creation. Iím
sure that if he really had that kind of power, he would have used it again to
destroy the world or at least prevent the Messiah from living. Nowhere in the
Bible is that kind of power attributed to Satan, since his primary method of
operation is through lies and deceit.1

Scientific problems with the gap theory

Proponents of the theory state that the dinosaurs were
destroyed between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. We know from radioactive dating
that the dinosaurs and about 80% of all other species of life were destroyed 65
million years ago, probably by a collision of an asteroid with the earth. Life
on earth did not cease at that time, since God created an entirely new set of
animals and plants within five million years of the Cretaceous-Tertiary
extinction. There is no complete gap in the fossil record from 3.6 billion years
ago until the present age. There is no gap at all recorded in the fossil record
for thousands of modern species for the past hundreds of thousands of years. In
addition, there is abundant evidence that modern man has been on this planet for
the last 50,000 years. If the earth at one point "became waste and
wild" through a "pre-Adamic flood" there remains no physical
evidence for this event.

References

"You are of your father the devil,
and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a
liar, and the father of lies. (John 8:44)
And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the
devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the
earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Revelation 12:9)
And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be
tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)